La Mata residents have said that they intend to set up a local patrol after two high-end vehicles were set on fire on Tuesday morning in Calle Canela, in a fire that almost spread to the natural park of Molino del Agua
Fire investigators say that the fire was again intentional bringing the total of cars torched in the area since last Friday to 13 in total.
On Tuesday morning the two cars burnt out were a rental car which had been leased by Russian holidaymakers and a high-end vehicle owned by a Swedish family, the owners of property in the town who spend their summer holidays in this part of Spain. Both cars have been completely burnt out.
Eyewitnesses say that they saw another vehicle speeding away from the scene as the security forces arrived. Initially the Guardia officers tried to put the fires out but they were far too intense. Fortunately the fire brigade were quickly on the scene and although the cars were already burnt out beyond recognition they did manage to stop the flames spreading to the adjacent green area of more than 20 hectares of dunes and pine forests in the Molino del Agua park.
The Torrevieja Civil Guard said that the arsonist fully intended to burn out the two cars and that the flames didn’t simply spread from one to the other.
Fuel had been poured into and over both cars separately through broken windows, then introducing rags soaked in fuel.
The Guardia say that it is not clear if Tuesday’s fire was connected to the recent fires in the Mar Azul urbanisation, which is located 8 kilometres away, on the southern tip of Torrevieja.
The residents of Mar Azul have also begun organising citizen patrols to prevent further vehicle fires along Avda Juan de Austria and adjacent streets. They started on Tuesday from twelve at night and in shifts of one hour. Six people, in shifts of two, walk the streets until the early hours of the morning.
The image is that of a further car that was burnt out during the early hours on Monday morning adjacent to the back gate of Campoamor Golf Club.
